lace_agate

I don't usually like saying "x should be required reading for y" but I'm going to say it anyway.  The section on economics in the October 18 issue of New Scientist magazine should be required reading for all politicians, economists, environmentalists and anyone else who's interested.

Basically it's attacking the idea that we have to keep growing and growing the economy and increasing our GDP and so on forever.  The point they're making is that we can't, because you can't have infinite growth when you have finite resources.  There are other, more sustainable ways of running an economy but they're being ignored because the dominant ideology is growth growth growth.

They explain it all far more coherently than I ever could, anyway, but it's fascinating.  They don't cover everything that's an issue (for example, they barely touch on population growth) but it's a good starting point to get people thinking.  I've just been hearing National belittling the Greens and Labour because by trying to be sustainable they'd be "putting economic growth on the backburner" which is apparently a Very Bad Thing.

Oh, whatever.  Just go and read it.